Despite the official US propaganda, Afghan general Amlaqullah Patyani told Reuters “We have no clue how to operate the weapons that NATO gives us. And even if we did, will the weapons keep coming after 2014?”

Indeed, the Afghan security forces are untrained and unprepared to face the insurgency without US and NATO support on the ground, but the whether they will continue to receive the guns and butter after NATO’s departure is becoming a sticking point for Afghans in the Karzai government.

Afghan lawmaker Khalid Pashtun recently pointed to the unmitigated rise in insurgent violence the country has experienced since the surge and is pressuring the US and NATO to stay around longer. “We have too many security problems in Kandahar,” Pashtun said. “We want the international community to keep its presence in Kandahar.”

NATO is attempting to create a 350,000 strong Afghan police and army force before 2014, the ostensible date for withdrawal. The United States has allocated a record amount to training recently, near $12 billion between October 2010 and September 2011. About the same amount is planned for the next year up to September 2012.

And post-withdrawal, costs are expected to keep up. Afghanistan’s Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said in October that a full Afghan army and police force would cost about $5 billion a year, which the US would presumably cover.

US and NATO military figures have repeatedly contradicted the Obama administration’s stated withdrawal date of 2014, and the regressive realities on the ground continue to promote an extended mission. Unless US leaders recognize the worthlessness of the fanciful goals in Afghanistan and decide to cut their losses, they will continue to double-down on the wasteful ten year failure.

4 thoughts on “Afghan Security Forces Unprepared to Take Over for US, NATO”

DOD released the names of the four US soldiers killed Saturday in the Kabul suicide blast that killed 14. Included in the death toll was a Lt. Colonel and three sergeants. 27 US soldiers have been reported killed in Afghanistan in October, 2011.

Democratizing and arming the Afghanis is a fools' errand. They are a tribal society and building a central government in Kabul is not going to change that anytime soon. All we've done is arm them with more powerful weapons.

We should now leave and let them decide what it is they want to do for themselves. After the dust clears then perhaps they'll consider working together – but maybe not.

The 145 planes and 8,000 airmen to make them run is just part of the plot/ploy to keep US and Nato forces in Afghanistan forever as trainers. Senators Coburn and Boozman made a fast trip in early October. When I called their office to find out if General Allen or Ambassador Crocker had mentioned the not-so-secret negotiations to stay until 2024, they gave me the run around and wouldn't answer. The only people who want us to stay are the contractors who will gladly rip us off and the US Generals who always need a war. Read, "General Allen Disavows 2014: US Going to Stay in Afghanistan For a Long Time" (CBS NEWS- 60 Minutes-Oct 3, 2011).